ED conducts searches across 40 locations in West Bengal, Jharkhand in illegal coal mining case

In early-morning raids across West Bengal and Jharkhand, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) conducted search operations across 40 locations in both the states in connection with illegal coal mining, transportation and storage.

Searches are being carried out in 24 locations in West Bengal and 18 in Jharkhand.

In West Bengal, the anti-money laundering agency is conducting searches at 24 premises in Durgapur, Purulia, Howrah and Kolkata districts in the illegal coal mining, illegal transportation and storage of coal case.

These operations pertain to several major cases of coal theft and smuggling, ED officials said.

The collective scale of the cases involves significant coal pilferage and theft, resulting in a massive financial loss to the government estimated to be around hundreds of crores, ED sources said.

The people whose premises are being covered include Narendra Kharka, Yudhistar Ghosh, Krishna Murari Kayal, Chinmayi Mondal, Rajkoshore Yadav and others.

More than 100 ED officials and staff are carrying out the searches against coal mafia. The search operations began at around 6 am on Friday.

The premises covered include residential properties, offices, coke plants and illegal toll collection booths, check posts and nakas.